As we await manifestation of a litany of promises of renewed and deferred hope, we can also begin to reflect on where the rain that has been beating us since 1999 actually began. I reflected on the rainmakers on an unusual beat the other day in Lagos. On Saturday August 3, 2024, there was a significant memorial service in Oregun, Ikeja Lagos, which brought together two of our prominent and significant citizens. It was a memorial service in honour of the late Dr. David Olayinka Oloruntoba (June 14, 1961 – February 14, 2024. The orthopedic surgeon who had set up a successful practice in South Africa died in South Africa in February this year. President of AfDB, Dr. Akinwumi Adesina, an in-law to the late Dr. Oloruntoba organised the excellent service at the DayStar Event Centre, Oregun, Ikeja where I began to reflect on the essence of Ecclesiastical warnings about life journey of man, vanity upon vanity and the expediency of praying to God to “teach us to number our days that we may apply our hearts to wisdom”.
As I was reflecting on the subject of life after life, (a hope of resurrection), which was the focal point of the word of life (message) delivered there by Pastor Kolawole Adegoke, then the Nigerian in me began to affect my reflection on the state of the nation and the theme of the #EndBadGovernance protest, which had then entered its third day. While ruminating over other sundry personal and national challenges in a corner of the exquisite and well decorated hall, my spirit man roved to the duo, Yemi Osinbajo, a professor and former Vice President and Akinwumi Adesina, PhD, Nigeria’s former Minister of Agriculture and current President of African Development Bank, rated as the world’s most transparent development institution.
As mixed feelings of enjoying the orchestra and choir ministration of the celebration of a good life and reflecting over my country’s broken system and our wailings, which resulted in the current revolt, my mind began to race to so many ‘what-ifs’ scenarios. First was ‘what if the then president Muhammadu Buhari had been a statesman and had supported his Deputy, Osinbajo as his successor?’ This was after Osinbajo’s very brief speech on the occasion had elicited a nostalgia of his brilliance, integrity and eloquence. Second was, what if Buhari had borrowed the brilliance of the former Governor of Borno State, Kashim Shettima (current Vice President) who had in 2018 deftly managed a governorship primary in favour of his very reliable Commissioner, Babagana Zulum, a professor who has turned out to be an asset as a Governor in the country?’ Then the global what if? – What if Buhari had played the Joe Biden card as a leader and openly endorsed Osinbajo as his successor?
What if Buhari had called his kitchen cabinet and all the APC party leaders and told them that the best way to enhance democracy then was to endure a smooth transition that would have made the APC presidential primary a coronation of Osinbajo as the party’s candidate?
As I raised my head again and saw Adesina resplendent in his white apparel, my mind raced to the scholar Dr. Victor Oladokun of AfDB, the event’s very resourceful MC introduced as Africa’s “Optimist-in-Chief”, (Adesina), unarguably emerging as the most consequential President the African Development Bank has ever produced, another what if? overwhelmed me: what if Buhari had called up Adesina and told him to resign as the President of AfDB to return to serve his father land, while assuring him of his support? What if the Buhari we expected in 2015 had called all African leaders and told them that the President of AfDB would be needed to lead his country to build on the back of his Buhari’s legacy? What if Buhari had apologised to other stakeholders and shareholders including the Unites States, why The Guardian’s “2021 Man of the Year” had to be supported by the ruling party to lead Nigeria, Africa’s very strategic nation to the next level?
And so as I began to reflect again in the hall on the place of Buhari in the mess Nigeria is going through at the moment, I asked myself what happened to my country, which is listed as harbouring some of the best brains in the world and at the same time incredibly parading some of the multidimensionally unworthy leaders at most levels. When I became helpless I opened on Google the remarkable Biden way for his party and his country when he stepped down for his Deputy Kamala Harris the other day. What if Buhari had gone that Biden way?
The Biden’s Bid
After weeks of pressure to step aside from the 2024 presidential race, President Joe Biden announced he would not be continuing his reelection bid and endorsed Vice President Kamala Harris to run in his place. Shortly after the endorsement, Harris has since emerged as the presumptive candidate after receiving endorsements from the needed Democrats including Bill and Hillary Clinton, California Governor Gavin Newsom, Massachusetts Senator Elizabeth Warren, New York Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and mega donor George Soros. West Virginia Senator Joe Manchin ruled out a run for the presidency.
Immediately VP Harris was endorsed, Democrats reported a surge in donations, with the cash pile growing in hundreds of million, a record for the 2024 campaign.
Inside the Daystar hall where I constantly gazed at Adesina, his wife and Osinbajo, I read again how Republicans piled pressure on the Democrats, with Donald Trump telling CNN that Biden “is the worst president in the history of our country” and Florida Republican Senator Rick Scott calling for him to resign that day. But so many world leaders also praised Biden for his decision to step down.
Let’s go again: Just like Biden, what if Buhari had endorsed Osinbajo describing him as likely to be the most educated and experienced leader the country would ever produce if elected, would that gesture had been praised by world leaders. Besides, what would that have meant for Nigeria today?
Biden, the first president in more than half a century not to seek reelection. These were his words I relived and read again inside the event centre where Dr Oloruntola was being celebrated:
“My very first decision as the party nominee in 2020 was to pick Kamala Harris as my Vice President. And it’s been the best decision I’ve made,” Biden wrote. “Today I want to offer my full support and endorsement for Kamala to be the nominee of our party this year. Democrats — it’s time to come together and beat Trump. Let’s do this.”
What if Buhari had before the APC Primary 2023 convention had a caucus meeting and told party leaders and stakeholders: “My very first decision as the party nominee in 2015 was to pick Yemi Osinbajo as my Vice President. And it’s been the best decision I’ve made…Today I want to offer my full support and endorsement for Osinbajo to be the nominee of our party this year 2023. APC leaders, it’s time to come together and beat Atiku and Obi. Let’s do this.” If the Daura strong man had done that, would Osinbajo have beaten Atiku with the support of the strong man from Lagos? And what if Buhari had done that, would Osinbajo had won the 2023 election and more important, would Nigeria have been where we are lamenting today?
As I hit the denouement on the hallucination of Buhari vs Osinbajo, my delusion raced to the preface to the essay on Akinwumi Adesina, PhD as The Guardian’s ‘2021 Man of the Year’. Again, my delusion: what if Buhari had kept The Guardian’s essay on Adesina as a guide: Here is an excerpt from the original essay:
‘…Our intricate choice this year ravaged by too many local disasters, awful leadership and the pandemic comeback is no jolly ride for this newspaper’s Editorial Board and its star-studded institutions.
In no particular order, the organic shortlist had: accomplished and award-winning personalities in Nollywood and Music industries for their contributions to Nigeria’s cultural diplomacy. The plight of beleaguered Nigerian masses that are anxiously awaiting a Nigeria that works for all also jolted attention. Widows and victims of mindless conflicts, notably those that have been bearing the brunt of protracted insecurity did linger on minds and moved emotions. Prisoners of conscience that are sacrificing personal comfort in defence of nationhood and revolts against State’s oppression couldn’t have been overlooked, in this regard. Even a few Nigerian representatives at the international community were strong contenders. But the Board settled for a persona whom the truth did set free and whose conscience feared no accusation. And to this rare persona that turned one of the most difficult corners in history, an African ambassador indeed and in truth, a beacon of light, the positive face of Nigeria, even when the embers begin to burn low, an indefatigable voice of change and courage to speak truth to powers, to this continental footnote and hope of a brighter Africa to come, belongs The Guardian’s Person of the Year 2021.
And so Dr. Akinwunmi Adesina, President of African Development Bank stands taller in 2021 and there are deliverables from his choice. For fighting a good a fight of faith in an African institution for Africa’s development, for surviving a curious persecution by a superpower- stakeholder in the African Bank he leads unarguably a valuable lesson in self-reliance; for showing the global community a stark reminder that only Africans can engineer a sustainable development agenda that the continent needs, for confirming that no amount of foreign intervention can develop African countries better than its people setting up their own plan for development, for reliving a 1976 bold statement to the superpowers that Africa has indeed come of age, for developing a development paradigm that Africa too can create its own Davos, for showing that Nigeria too has qualified and strong men who can develop strong institutions to lead Africa, and the Black race; for making iconic Nelson Mandela to sleep well as an oracle who was persuaded that Africa and the black people of the world would not develop until Nigeria could wake up, Dr Akinwumi Adesina is The Guardian’s Person of the Year 2021’.
All told, what if Buhari had supported either Yemi or Akin, (two also from the South West) as his successor, would Nigeria have been a different country today? Let’s debate Buhari and the choice he and his party made for us in 2023.
•Written By Martins Oloja
